USM Valor
The USM ''Valor'' was a Destroyer-class vessel in the Earth Defense Force Navy and was captained by Commander F. Cadigan. A fifth of the size of the [[USG Ishimura|USG Ishimura]], the Valor possessed formidable firepower. Service Record The USM Valor ''was deployed to assist the effort to reclaim the Red Marker undertaken by EarthGov and spearheaded by Kendra Daniels and journeyed to the Aegis System to retrieve it from the USG ''Ishimura. When it managed to raise the Ishimura thanks to the efforts of Isaac Clarke and Daniels, it's communications officer relayed the news that one of the Ishimura's escape pods was recovered. Unfortunately, this escape pod contained a Necromorph that a CEC operative named Zach Hammond successfully contained and jettisoned via the pod. The Necromorph attacked the Marines on board the Valor and Commander F. Cadigan was forced to mobilize his troops against it. The Valor lost control, however, following the killing of it's helm officers and listed headlong toward the Ore Storage Deck of the Ishimura. The Valor was encountered by Isaac Clarke after he killed the Slug which was blocking the Ishimura's Communications Array's blast doors with the armament of a Cannon Pit. Isaac was unable to avert the crash with ADS Cannon 48 and the Valor crashed, causing incalculable damage to the larger ship and itself. Cadigan's troops fought bravely against the Necromorphs which are the members of his crew. With more boarding his ship from the Ishimura, the tide of battle was with the horde and Cadigan went down along with the rest of the crew. Isaac Clarke boarded the Valor to retrieve it's singularity core in order to power a shuttle to escape from the Aegis System. Unfortunately, in the process of doing so which involved fighting through numerous Necromorphs including a new breed formed from the ship's complement of Marines-Twitchers, Isaac's compatriot, Zach Hammond was killed by an Enhanced Brute and the Valor's engines are destabilized due to a catastrophic failure of fuel containment, causing substantial damage to the Ishimura. However, the singularity core was successfully retrieved by Isaac despite the damage that it's removal caused, giving him, Kendra Daniels and Dr. Kyne a chance to escape via a surviving emergency shuttle. Daniels would later attribute the role of the Valor to her efforts to retrieve the Red Marker after she betrayed Isaac Clarke and Dr. Kyne at the Ishimura's Flight Deck, stating that her mission succeeded even with the loss of Cadigan and his crew. The ruins of the Valor are later used by Stefan Schneider as a refuge when he was aboard the Ishimura following the Second Aegis VII Incident. Internal Structure Armory A large, long room containing a Bench and several long weapons lockers containing multiple Pulse Rifles and ammunition. A small subsection of the area contained the Shooting Gallery activity area. Shooting Gallery . The Shooting Gallery was a subsection of the Valor's Armory where the off-duty Marines could practice their accuracy and shooting skills on holographic human-sized targets. Hitting all of the red targets and none of the blue targets earned the player points. The amount of total points possible to score increased with each level. If the shooter was able to hit all red targets without any "friendly fire," he was rewarded with a useful item such as ammunition, medical packs, Semiconductors and on the fifth level a Power Node. Barracks A long room (Among the longest in the ship) lined with personnel bunks on both sides where the Valor's Marines and custodial crew slept. The personnel bunks are slightly smaller than the crew bunks on the Ishimura, but appeared to have drawers and cabinets on the walls for storing personal items. In between the two rows of bunks are walkpaths and columns with supply cabinets and EDF propaganda posters. On the far side of the barracks was a Store for the soldiers to use and a ship administrations office. The bunks are festooned with touches such as notes, letters and photos. By the time that Isaac Clarke reached the Barracks, they are swarmed with waves of Twitchers, Lurkers, Exploders, Leapers and one Pregnant. Clarke was successful in expunging the infestation. Cargo Bay The storehouse of the Valor. It was the storage center for the ship and it's Marine and custodial complement and supplies of water, fuel, ammunition, field rations, weapons, oxygen supplies, Stasis Packs, medical supplies and associated paraphernalia are stored here. Engine Room A very large two-level room containing the Valor's' '''medium-size ShockPoint Drive. It was divided into two sections: The first was the Drive Deck, a dangerous level that was dominated by the ship's ShockPoint Drive and Engine Reflux Tubes. The second level was the Engine Room where the ship's propulsion systems functioned. The singularity core was contained here behind a shield which Clarke deactivated to gain access to the component. The Engine Room would be the epicenter of the ship's destruction when the core was removed. Infirmary The Infirmary was a medium-sized cabin used as the sickbay and operating room for the Marines and other personnel. It was equipped with multiple patient beds, scanning and medical equipment and a variety of surgical tools, most notably a large laser cutter device that malfunctioned, causing it to spin erratically and cutted anything down that came within reach. Torpedo Room The Torpedo Room was the armament storage and deployment center for the ''Valor and was in ruins when Isaac Clarke entered it. Nicole Brennan appeared on a vidscreen in the room which was a hallucination of Clarke's. Armaments The Valor was armed with a complement of nuclear missiles. One of them was cracked open when the Valor crashed into the Ishimura. Due to a safety lock engaging because of the radiation hazard that this posed, Clarke had to dispose of the nuclear debris before he could enter via one of the Valor's'' airlocks. In addition to the armaments of the ship itself, the Marines aboard the ''Valor had access to a wide variety of military-grade versions of the standard tools located aboard the USG Ishimura and on Aegis VII. The main armory was also fully stocked with racks of the SWS Motorised Pulse Rifle, although these are not accessible to Isaac. Marine Complement The Marines aboard are all either killed or transformed into Necromorphs, although Isaac Clarke encountered three non-infected Marines which included one who died shortly after he was encountered (Having lost his leg after fleeing through the medbay and it's malfunctioning laser cutters), one who was pinned to the ceiling by a damaged gravity panel and one Marine who escaped through a hatch to an unknown fate. Because the Marines had Stasis Modules in their Advanced Soldier RIGs when they are transformed into Necromorphs, they are able to move many times the speed of the regular Slashers and are referred to as Twitchers. The Marines also carried Pulse Rifles, but the Twitchers did not make use of these. Trivia *The USM Valor along with the USG Ishimura's Ore Storage Deck was where Chapter 9: Dead on Arrival of Dead Space took place. *The USM logo seen throughout the ship included the Han character 天 (Chinese: tiān, Japanese: ten, ame, ama, Korean: cheon), meaning "heaven" or "sky." *The Valor's ship symbol resembled a Chinese dragon. *The Valor's logo was seen on the left chest plate of the Advanced Soldier RIG. *The civilian ships in the Dead Space universe had a U.S.G prefix which stood for "United Spacefaring Guild", a civilian body in charge of monitoring and administrating all non-military space traffic. This was first mentioned in a log in Dead Space 2. U.S.M was naturally a prefix used for the naval vessels belonging to the Earth Defense Force. *The logo of the USM Valor could first be seen in Chapter 5: Lethal Devotion on a book labeled "Field Medicine" in a laboratory on the Medical Deck. *Strangely, some examples of Unitologist grafitti could be seen aboard the Valor. *Apparently, Kendra Daniels was not the only person aware about the presence of the USM Valor ''during the time of the Second Aegis VII Incident. In the final chapter of ''Dead Space: Extraction, the player could find an audio log with the following transcript: "We picked the USM Valor up on deep-space scan, but they are out of communications range! We need to launch a distress beacon and get their attention. They are the only ones who could save us!" *If Isaac shot at the incoming Valor while using the ADS cannon, the shots would be absorbed by the Valor's deflector shield. *It was unknown what happened to the remains of the Valor by the events of Dead Space 2 as the Ishimura docked at Titan Station showed no signs of the Valor's hull lodged in it's side. **Ellie mentioned at one point that the Necromorphs swarmed into the vessel via a large hole in the ship. This may be the spot where the Valor used to reside. *The Singularity Core was visually almost identical to the Flux Capacitor from the Back to the Future movies. *It was worth noting that the insignia seen on the USM Valor also appeared on Robert Norton's initial suit during the events of Dead Space 3. Some speculated that he was a survivor of the events concerning the ship's contact with the Ishimura. However, there was a distinct lack of evidence to support this theory. It was never referenced by Norton himself or any Audio/Text logs found throughout the games and remained nothing more than fan speculation. *The Valor's A.I. which could be heard while Isaac was on board the ship spoke in a low, distorted male voice unlike the soft emale voice of the Ishimura's computer. Gallery File:ShipComparison.jpg|A size comparison between the USG Ishimura, the USG Kellion, and the USM Valor. File:Untitled543254.jpg|The USM Valor's damaged hull. File:-2052588406.jpg|The Valor's singularity core. File:Valorduderiglink.png|A helmeted Valor crewmember talking via Isaac's RIGlink. il_570xN.448448273_2qhu.jpg|An alternate logo. Sources de:USM Valor it:USM Valor es:USM Valor ru:USM "Вейлор" Valor